SAP Crystal Reports Reviews

We are a software development company and we have a lot of experience with different tools, including SAP Crystal Reports.

This product is one that we have implemented in different hospitals. We have stopped using it at times, but some clients still opt to use it. It is something that we are trying to replace with a mini dashboard for our clients, giving them a nicer way to visualize data.

One of our clients uses it for extracting data from the administrative system and generating relevant administrative reports. In cases like this, we develop reports for them.

The most valuable feature is that from a user's point of view, it is easy to use and requires just a simple click to generate a report.

It has the ability to export to different formats including Excel and PDF, so there is value there when you consider that it's a nice report that can be accessed on different platforms.

This was a good platform when it first came out but right now, it has become a complicated behemoth. These days, things are a little more dynamic and you really need a platform where you can change fast, and Crystal Reports is not it. This is an enterprise solution and there is no innovation there. The only innovation comes through a company that develops reports, such as us. A real improvement would be a simpler system that allows users to play with the visualization without needing specialized skills and code.

You shouldn't need a specialized developer just to code a Crystal Report. Ideally, a general-purpose or front-end developer, which is more cost-effective, should be able to do it.

A lot of times, what happens is that developers reuse or repurpose their domain model to use that to pull the data from a database. I think the main model that they use for the web application, the database model, and then use that to run the reports because they don't want to rewrite the code. This means that those entity models they have are too normalized for the crystal reports. Then, it becomes a bit of a mismatch where they have to change those entities and create new ones. Reporting is different than something like getting data from a web application and we really care about the transactions, which means that you always have to denormalize the data. What I've seen a lot of times is that developers kind of get stuck in this mismatch and they have to recode something. Or, they just drop what they did and do it from scratch, remapping the tables or creating new entities. This is a problem because if you promise somebody a report, only to later realize that it needs to be re-coded, it takes additional time. It becomes even more complicated when you need to re-create the business logic.

Because the users can export data to Excel or a PDF, it sometimes leads to data leakage and can create privacy issues. 

We have been working with Crystal Reports since 2004.

If you're running the Crystal Reports server then you can control it much better. For example, when developers use the web application it means that they don't think about the extra memory that the server is going to require to run these reports. So, you get issues when you run a heap memory and things like that because the report just bootstraps lots of this information, all of the data.

With the infrastructure having to run the report, it might request a lot of memory, especially if you have a lot of users. This is something that can kill your server. That's where you want to offload it to a specialized server, such as a Crystal Report server or a Jasper server. These serve and compile the reports for you. This is why there is a push for companies to get these specialized servers.

Given that you have options for both on-premises and cloud, I would say that it is scalable. They are thinking about these things, although I would say that it is a bit too late.

We have an enterprise license, so we are eligible for technical support. When we have gotten feedback for a client, it has taken time. The other problem is that because it's a closed system, they don't fix bugs right away. Just because an incident is reported and logged, doesn't mean that it will be fixed anytime soon. This means that in the interim, you have to find a workaround for the problem.

We use a variety of different approaches for giving clients the data that they want to see. The first step is understanding what the client need is. If it is just a basic report that they don't want to change often, then we can get away with something static. Most of the time, we have to put in a few variables, or parameters.

Because Crystal Reports costs a lot of money, is a specialized skill, and isn't necessarily better, we try to focus on the data that they need and put it on a dashboard instead. There is a spectrum of things to consider when deciding on the suitability of any particular solution.

When we go back and speak with clients, a lot of the time we find that they don't really need Crystal Reports. They need something that is a canned report that they can go back and look at all the time. If that's the case then you can get a simple HTML5 page, which is much faster to develop and easier to maintain. Ultimately, it depends on the client's use cases.

The difficulty of the initial setup depends on your skillset, and I would say that it is somewhere between straightforward and complex. Getting it going within your web application takes some time for things such as getting the proper JAR files.

The server can deliver the reports to you, but you still have to integrate it with your database. This is something that can be time-consuming.

This product costs a lot of money.

At this point, I would just go with something that is matched with Power BI. It's coming from the Microsoft world, and the users will be comfortable with it.

I would say that its suitability depends on who you speak with. For a front-end developer, they are not going to like Crystal Reports. On the other hand, if you're a back-end developer and you understand the architecture then you're going to be okay with it. Again, it really depends on the client's use cases, the skillset, and the resources.

If your organization does not have many users, the traffic is low, and doesn't have any compliance issues, then you can get away with open-source solutions. They are going to be much faster to implement, easier to deploy, easier to manage, and have a low overhead. With the Google Chart Library, for example, you have all of the charts that you need.

I would rate this solution a seven out of ten.

On-premises

We have several dashboards that we use, some of which are for revenue. We have an SQL server as a data warehouse and the other division is using HANA for the backend database. 

I find Crystal Reports very easy to use, even for a non-technical person.

The drag-and-drop capability is good.

It is easy to change between different file types.

The reports scheduler is helpful.

It provides a lot of flexibility.

There could be improvements made to the analytics capabilities.

Crystal Reports could be more graphical.

Management wants to be able to see everything on one page.

I have been using Crystal Reports for more than 15 years, since the first version that was released.

This is a stable solution and we have not experienced any issues.

This product is easy to scale.

There are other divisions and some of our users have rights to create their own reports. I am not able to say how many users we have in total, but with the BI team and the developers, we have twenty users.

For an enterprise, you can have many users for SAP.

Most of the users are using it daily, to check their dashboards. We plan to continue using this solution as most of our dashboards are sitting on the SAP.

In my division, we have not contacted technical support, but it's possible that some of the other divisions have.

My guess is that the support is good.

I used Crystal Reports when it was incorporated with Visual Basic. It has now been separated, which makes it easier.

We also use Microsoft Power BI, which allows you to use graphs and filtering on one page. You can also see the different objects on one page. It is more on the graphical side.

They still have the same functionality where you can drill down to the lowest level, depending on the database schema.

The initial setup straightforward and it's easy to setup.

Initially, I did the deployment myself, although we now have a BI team to do this for us. It is a specific department that does all of the setups for us.

We have considered migrating to another platform but there are so many available.

My advice for anybody who is implementing this product is to learn the dimensions that are needed for the reports. There are some measures or formulas that are needed, and you have to organize your templates. With practice, it becomes easy to use.

I would rate this solution a nine out of ten.

On-premises

• Tabular reporting, primarily just data and tables, no charts
• Specific highlighting/formatting.

I've used it for a long time, and familiarity with the product allows for faster delivery.

• Pixel-perfect formatting
• It's extremely customizable.

Charting capabilities are incomplete relative to competitors.

More than five years.

The most valuable feature is the ability to create reports easily. End users and non-technical users can learn the product with ease.

Crystal Reports enables end users to create reports. This in turn, enables business analysts to perform analytics without interaction from our IT teams.

From our experience with it, we would like the ability to change reports en masse in case of backend changes. It would also be nice if it enabled object orientation.

I've used it for two years.

I've had no issues with deploying it.

There have been no issues with its performance.

It's scaled for our needs.

Customer Service:

We've had very good customer support.

Technical Support:

Technical support has been very good.

We worked with other solutions concurrently. SSRS was another reporting solution we used.

Initial setup needed to be performed by an IT administrator. Data connectivity was also a function reserved for IT.

The solution was implemented in-house using our local system admin.

Our ROI with the solution was being able to jump onto loans that were delinquent before they became junk loans.

This is a good product with good visuals.

Eliminate the reserved space in Page Footer section.

Find an easier way to utilize the Database > Links feature, or allow the ability to alter the selection SQL. Crystal Reports makes too many assumptions, causing odd results, which can sometimes be corrected by altering the SQL or changing the links (providing you understand the link options).

Since 2011.

I did not encounter any deployment, stability or scalability issues.

I was not part of the search/decision making process. I don’t know why the organization’s developers/decision makers chose this product to present their reports. They continue to use it, so it must be satisfying their needs.

I have not yet used other products, so I have nothing to compare against.

The product is easy to learn for the basics. However, some features are difficult to learn and use (e.g., cross-tab tables). Documentation is minimal.

The product makes assumptions with table/view/stored procedure links, which can create unpredictable results.

The option settings (especially font settings) are global. I work with many customers who use different fonts and sizes. It is annoying to have to reset the option settings based on which client report I’m working.

The page footer reserves space; if you use a page footer on only the first page, it wastes real estate on subsequent pages.

The ease of making simple reports. The facts that many people use it, hence a lot of expertise can be found on the internet and trainings are available.

I develop reports for customers, for an ERP system that collects a lot of data, but has very few standard reports. Customers use the reports for making decisions and negotiations.

• Sub-reports in sub-reports
• Making graphs is very cumbersome
• Exporting to Excel
• Using Stored procedures
• Complex SQL Queries

I've used Crystal Reports in general for about 20 years, and v2008 for about six years.

There were no issues with the deployment.

We have had no issues with the stability.

We haven't needed to scale it.

I wasn't aware of there being any.

It's very straightforward.

I have only installed the developer version, and that can anyone do with it’s eyes closed.

The training of users can be more expensive. User training can take two to five days, and in addition, the user needs to understand the database, the tables, and where to get the data.

The training of users can be more expensive. User taining can take two to five days, and in addition, the user needs to understand the database, the tables, and where to get the data.

It does what it does have to do, but seems development has stuck for several years now. Many things are not possible either. Complex queries are impossible, you need to make SQL statements. Sub report in a sub report is impossible.

One valuable feature is the ability to integrate seamlessly with the Business Objects Enterprise Software solution.

It allows the organization to share information/data with their customers so that they can make decisions based off of actual data.

I feel an improvement would be allowing users to change the font on translated fields. I remember having to work around this by overlaying fields with a formula because formatting was not available in the translation management tool.

I have been using Crystal Reports software for over 10 years.

There were no issues with the deployment.

We have had no issues with the stability.

The team did have questions on stability/scalability practices for the Business Objects Enterprise Software solution. SAP has provided documentation and is working with us on this.

7/10

It was pretty straightforward in terms of setup. It contains the basic setup for data sources. It has a good amount of options which makes the software flexible.

We implemented it with an in-house team and were lucky to have certified individuals involved with the project so they were familiar with all aspects and features of the products.

The organization has evaluated other products, but felt that this is a more mature reporting platform solution. It met many of our needs.

The only advice I can give is to just make sure that you are very familiar with the products and the services that they offer. Ensure there is someone involved who is familiar with the product and its features for the implementation of the SAP Business Objects Enterprise Software solution.

The ability to able to write your own SQL commands, parameterizing reports and putting them online.

Being able to produce online parameterized reports, so the end users can do their own reports, increases productivity.

Crystal 2008 - the export functionality could be improved, right now it will only export approximately 65K into one spreadsheet tab. When it reaches the max rows, it will continue on the next tab. This is really only an issue when users are exporting in Business Object. Currently, known larger files need to eported into txt or csv, the end users generally aren't as familiar with bring in this type of file into excel workbook.

Also, charts and mapping functionality could be much improved.

There were no issues with the deployment.

We've experienced no issues with performance.

It's been able to scale for our needs.

I wasn't involved in the implementation.

It was implemented in-house.

In general, Crystal Reports 2008 is a very robust reporting tool. It is definitely geared toward the professional user. There is a learning curve and I would definitely take a class to learn all the functionalities.

Native connection, Subreports, pixel free formatting, free hand SQL, multiple sources, supports most databases

Distribution of reports has been improved.

Adhoc and tabbed reporting should be added to the next release.

I've been using it for 14 years.

There were no issues with the deployment.

It crashes the designer when the tool with no clear error messages. Working with LOV and Business Views are challenging when migrating environments.

It's been able to scale for our needs.

It's good.

We didn't have another solution in place, and use this because of its flexibility and functionality.

Straightforward as it has a native development tool, or working with .Net and (or) Java and deployment to Management console. Setting up the management console is a process.

Implementation of tool needs an implementation partner to follow the best practices and reduce the maintenance issues.

We didn't look at any other solutions.

Perform analysis the purpose of the solution when selecting as oppose to select the solution and define the process.

I use all the features and there is nothing that is more important than the other.

We have a tool to generate all reports for all internal customers. We have different layouts for over 200 reports that change a lot, based on the tool. It is very important to keep everything beautiful and organized.

We are using an old version, and the only thing isn't good is that some error messages are not specific and it is sometimes hard to find the error.

I've been using it for four years day to day, but I first used it eight years ago.

There were no issues with the deployment.

We've experienced no issues with performance.

It's been able to scale for our needs.

When I started with my current company, they were already using the solution.

I just have just one situation that I am afraid to update the Crystal Reports DLL version in production to get some features . I do not feel confident to update it even though I have a guarantee that everything will work fine.

Ease of extracting data from various sources and displaying in such a way that user can’t tell the difference.

Largely used by stores manages and senior management to view / analyze sales metrics.

I would like to see a mobile and iOS friendly version.

I have used Crystal Reports for approximately 15 years, and in my current company for eight years.

There some issues with the deployment.

We have had minor issues with its stability.

It's been difficult to scale for our needs.

6/10

It was straightforward in terms of installation, development and deployment.

We’re implementing it through CMC and have an in-house application that pulls the report from CMC.

Versatility between platforms.

It is a pillar of our product to provide embedded reports so I would say it has been an essential part of our system.

They need to offer better support to clients and have a better knowledge base.

I've been using it for 12 years.

There were no issues with the deployment.

We've experienced no issues with performance.

It's been able to scale for our needs.

Terrible, if it wasn’t for the Google community there would not be any support at all.

It was already part of Visual Studio. Later on we bought the developer edition and the installation was very simple.

We used both and try to always work with someone of infrastructure because there is a tendency to have problems with permissions on the latest Windows Server OS.

It came embedded with Visual Studio. Now there is SSRS.

Be aware that SAP Crystal Reports support is practically none existent so be aware that you will need to gather information from other sources.

I value it's ability to satisfy most demanding reporting requirements with ease. No complex programming or tweaking of properties. It can be learned by a power user to satisfy their analytical needs without IT support and, the expert developer can deliver advanced functionality with ease. Mature and works as expected.

Like any tool, the value is derived by how the users use it. I have worked in many organizations and the usage differs, the following are the most value additions I have come across.

• Third party logistics - monitoring their KPIs and highlighting exceptions. 
• Marketing services - generating and emailing thousands of routine reports to it's customers with Crystal Enterprise
• Healthcare industry (Software as a Service) - manage huge report portfolio with a relatively small development team.

The functionality is not evolving much over newer releases. The limitation of the original row based model is still there, and there's no easy way to draw tables. I would very much like to see full multi-dimensional reporting capability. The primitive capabilities have not been improved over the last 10 years.

There were some no issues with the deployment.

We've experienced no issues with performance.

It's been able to scale for our needs.

It was very good, but now the competition is overtaking, and SAP seems to use it as a cash cow.

It’s ability to connect to multiple data sources, use SQL or individual tables, views or stored procedures, data formatting options, ability to handle and display various date formats and the ability to use VB or Crystal Syntax (or both) within a report.

We were able to develop several On-Time Performance reports to assist with correcting scheduling errors and/or location errors for our buses. This has allowed us to get a much more accurate picture of where we are and how to get where we want to be.

Charts and Graphs are the only reason I don’t give the product a 10/10. Microsoft Excel is far better and Tableau is even better than that. So much so that my company now wants us to start using Tableau as a replacement for Crystal Reports, at least where graphs and charts are concerned.

I’ve used it for 18 years.

When upgrading versions of Microsoft Windows, Crystal Reports would not always work correctly. We would have to reinstall it to make it work right.

With Windows 10, our Crystal Reports XI product stopped working correctly completely, but works fine when we upgrade them to Crystal Reports 2013.

It has been able to scale for our needs.

We have not used any support from SAP that I am aware of.

Fairly straightforward, especially with 2013. With XI, some options were not checked that we needed. With 2013, they are.

We did the initial setup in-house. Make sure you have detailed step-by-step installation instructions if having a team installing it so everyone gets the exact same setup and things don’t get missed. We had that problem early on when upgrading to 2013 from XI and I had to help determine what was missed or done wrong so they could do it correctly.

The licensing is currently $500 per copy, so we are trying to limit the number of licenses we have to keep costs down.

I do not know. It was already being used corporate wide when I arrived.

Make sure you have at least one person (preferable two), who know how to use the product before implementing it corporate wide. The problem at my company is there are 100 licenses out there and we have only 1 person who is an SME (Subject Matter Expert): Me. Everyone else uses it, but they have not had any real training or don’t use it full time.

It is easy to use and it connects to the major databases.

It provides trusted business information for decisions and operations management.

The sales, operations, and IT areas could use improvement.

I have been using Crystal Reports for 20 years, since 1997.

I have had no major issues with deployment.

I have had no issues with the stability.

This is a simple but powerful reporting tool. I don’t have scalability issues for more than 100 users.

Customer Service:

I would give customer service a rating of 4.5/5.

Technical Support:

Technical support is good. I would give technical support a rating of 4.5/5.

I used Excel, but that was a long time ago when the BI tools were very basic.

I have implemented both with a vendor team and in-house. My level is expert.

The ROI depends on your use. In the first implementation, it was very productive with sales increases and time reduction.

Today, I only use a standalone license.

If you are looking for a cheap operational tool, the Crystal Reports family is the correct decision.

Performance

Drill-down reporting functionality

Report wizard

Variable

Built in Formulas

Presentation Options like Charts, Cross tab reports etc.

We develop many management reports using Crystal Reports. It has reduced the development cost, effort, and provides feature rich reports.

Support of crystal report is also very good, in terms compatibility, many vendors preferred crystal reports as preferred report delivery product.

It needs better support for child reports.

It needs additional formulas.

some performance issues when joining tables using report wizard.

I've been using SAP Crystal Reports for Visual Studio 2010 for four years.

We had no issues with the deployment. deployment is smooth and it depends upon how you are going to deploy, as dll or rpt file.

There have been no stability issues.

We have had no issues scaling it for our needs.

Customer Service:

Customer service is good, and responses come within an acceptable time.

Technical Support:

Technical support is good, and responses come within an acceptable time.

We previously used SQL Server reporting services. These are also good but complex in some scenarios, like child reports.

The initial setup was very straightforward.

We implemented it with our in-house team.

ROI is great as we are using the VS 2010 version which is free with Visual Studio.

Study your requirements carefully, map them into this product, and if you think it fulfills the requirements, you should go for it.

I appreciate the ability to connect to just about any structured data source. This makes it very flexible. We can use it in any Windows-based technical environment, but now we specialize with reports for just one data source, QuickBooks via QQube. Since we have Crystal Reports viewers available for our customers to use, they don't need to purchase the product, but can run the reports that we build for them.

We use it as a tool to build custom designed reports that our customers can run at a single click against their own data. It's the foundation of our company's existence.

We would like to see a Crystal Reports desktop version with built-in functionality to edit a single reference that exists in multiple formulas. This would be a big time saver. We would also like to select multiple detail area fields and insert the same summary field for all of them instead of having to do it one at a time.

We have used it for 20 years.

We haven't had deployment issue per se, as much as part of a greater stability worry.

It's always been known to crash unexpectedly, so get in the habit of frequent saving. I never liked the auto-save feature, though because it ends up saving things I didn't intend to retain. Since version 2008 it's been much more stable.

We have never encountered scalability issues.

I never use it because those folks don't even know as much about it as I do. However, if I encounter a bug, I will go to the SAP SDN to check it out or to report it.

No other solution has been used. I've been working with it since I worked in Tech Support for Seagate Software when they owned and supported the application.

It was simple and easy to install. The hard part was knowing/learning the structure of your data source and what you want to do with that data. Like any skill, it takes a long time to master. I have done incredible, innovative things with Crystal Reports, but only because I knew it so well and could synthesize breakthrough ideas on how to give the customer what they wanted.

Hire experts for a fixed period of time while longer term employees shadow until they learn how to use it. Otherwise a new reporting endeavour will take too long. The end users need their reports.

The ability to connect to most databases, be it Lawson, PeopleSoft, Excel or Access and that is only to name a few. The customization for clients is the absolute favorite feature, not to mention that I can do more formulas and bring in more data than most other reporting software that I have used. This includes using and tying in multiple databases.

With the reports I have created, mostly financial, it gives the business owners an easy way to see how their money is being spent, where it's going to and to see if they are remaining on budget and if not to adjust how they spend throughout the rest of the year. This alone is the single most important factor but not the only one. My clients use my reports for Inventory Control, Payroll and Human Resources purposes as well. All these reports can save a company lots of money if they are used as they are supposed to be.

I think the product is great and has so much now but I have noticed that it is not Excel 10 compatible and when the reports are extracted to XLS it defaults to MS Office version 95-97 which has dropped rows of data from sheet to sheet. I would like to see the ability to use the most current versions of MS Office.

I have used Crystal Reports for approximately 15 years starting with CR Developer 8.

There were no issues with the deployment.

Nothing that minor adjustments in the report developer did not fix. Once I had made the adjustments in CR Developer there was no issue in LBI which is where I deploy 90% of my reports to.

It's been able to scale for our needs.

Customer Service:

Customer service was great I had a couple questions and they walked me thru it quick and easy.

Technical Support:

The two times I have called support for the product have been very pleasant. The technical support person was very friendly, knowledgeable and knew how to fix my issue immediately. The second time I called I was on hold for about 17-20 minutes but again the person on the other end was very cordial and knew exactly how to fix my issue.

I have used numerous report writers in the past and by far Crystal Reports is the best. The user friendliness and versatility to create custom reports and designs to fit my customers needs has been a real useful business tool.

Initial set up was straightforward. You got instructions on how to install Crystal, how to set up your ODBC connections and the Oracle 10g client, which is what my business uses. There were no problems with the install on any of the PC's or desktops within the organization.

We did the install in-house. The only advice that I can give is to follow the instructions given they are literally fool proof and very straightforward. I would recommend that the Oracle Client, if that is what you are using, be installed first, then install Crystal Reports. Other than that there was no issues.

We are a large organization so we called and arranged a package of 25+ licenses at a real good rate. We paid for the product once then the additional licenses for the personal that would be using the software on a daily basis not to mention the license we had to have for LBI. We had gotten a great deal and I recommend that if you need more than one license to buy it. We have a few extra just in case, you never know when you will be adding another person who would need Crystal Reports.

I did not evaluate any other products but have used Report Smith, Lawson Report Writer and MS SQL Developer in the past and have found that Crystal Reports has more versatility, is easier to use, and meets the needs of my clients and organization better.

If your company has a reporting need which almost all do, then I would highly recommend Crystal Reports. I use the product so much in the past 15 years that I ended up becoming a CRCP as well.

It can gather data from many sources and consolidate that data.

It is easy to get quick results, but also allows you to create more in-depth reports.

It contains a relational database that allows you to join tables from different tables in the same report.

It can export to Excel, text files, or PDF and many other formats.

A non-IT person can create some reports, and an IT person can take it much further.

If you have Crystal Reports, it can import Excel files that were made in Excel 2003, files with a .xls file extension and file format. It does not yet recognize files with a .xlsx file extension, which would be from Excel 2007, 2010, 2013 or 2016. With Access files, Crystal Reports can import databases with a .mdb format, but not the newer format if .accdb.

This was true as of Crystal Reports 2013. They may have changed it since
then.

I have used it with several clients to create complex reports that required multiple data sources and complex relationships.

They need to make it work with new file formats for Excel and Access. It also needs to be more compatible with other data sources.

I have been using Crystal Reports for over 10 years, and this version for about two years.

I have seen integration with SAP , and it seems pretty seamless. There are versions of Crystal Reports that come embedded with other software programs, like Peachtree, etc. I would recommend that you upgrade to the full version so you can take advantage of some of the features.

I've experienced no issues with performance.

I have the single user edition.

Their support is top notch, although you may have to pay for it.

I created many reports using Access. Crystal reports is similar, but more robust.

I have the single user version, and had no problems.

I installed it myself.

It's a great product that works with many data sources. I highly recommend it.

The fact that I can write my own SQL command to pull data for a report. You can just select tables and join them together and get a report, but there are times when you need to do something more complex than just a simple query. I have used this to do things such as getting just the most recent records in a set of data, all of the procedures for a patient where the patient had a specific procedure, pivoting data so that I don’t have to use a cross-tab, and much more. At this point, if a report is going to use more than two tables, I’ll generally write the SQL for it so that I can tune it to make it run faster. I’ve written a blog about the best practices for working with commands, which can be found here: http://scn.sap.com/community/crystal-reports/blog/2015/04/01/best-practices-when-using-commands-with-crystal-reports.

Also, the ability to export reports to a variety of formats, even though there are limited options for formatting that output.

Not my specific organization, as I am a consultant. However, for many of my clients this is the de-facto reporting tool for operational data. Especially because it can either be integrated into an application using either the .NET or Java SDK, or reports can be published to Crystal Reports Server (an economical version of SAP Business Objects that just runs Crystal reports.) There are also many third-party tools available for working with Crystal Reports.

There are very few options for formatting reports that are exported to Excel or PDF formats.

The “Report Definition” export doesn’t contain all of the information about a report. The only way to get all of the configuration of a report is to write a program using one of the SDKs or to purchase a third-party tool.

SAP Crystal Reports for Enterprise, which is the new version of Crystal Reports that is optimized for working with HANA, BEx queries, and other things specific to SAP’s other products definitely lags behind “classic” Crystal Reports in terms of features – especially when it comes to formatting objects.

I've used it for 19 years – since version 4.5. When I first started with it, I was also using its Delphi VCL component, and now I use the SAP Crystal for Visual Studio .NET component as well as the SAP Crystal for Eclipse Java components.

There were no issues with the deployment.

We haven't faced any issues.

I have not had any issues with deployment or stability. However, with SDK there are limitations on the number of open reports (3) and the usage of sub-reports (no more than 99 visible instances of a sub-report within a single run of a report). The options for scaling up from that are to purchase SAP Crystal Reports Server or SAP Business Objects, both of which can be expensive for smaller companies.

For companies that just have SAP Crystal Reports without one of the SAP server products that come with annual maintenance, about 3/10. Since SAP purchased the product, they have not spent much time focusing on companies that just own Crystal Reports, choosing to focus instead on the large companies that are running other, larger SAP products. However, there is a very good online community available at http://scn.sap.com/community/crystal-reports. There are several SAP support folks who answer questions there along with several other folks (like me) who are experts in the software. This is the “go-to” place for support and we’ll try to answer questions so that users can avoid having to pay to open a case with SAP.

I have used several reporting tools, including Web Intelligence which comes with SAP Business Objects. Each has its own place in the grand scheme of deploying a Business Intelligence solution. Crystal Reports is the tool for “picture perfect” reports, like form letters, or for very complex requirements. It is also a moderately priced tool that is good for smaller companies or for companies producing software that requires some reporting capabilities.

As a desktop tool, it’s very easy to install. The one thing that can be a “gotcha” is that you have to be logged in as a user that has Administrator credentials on the workstation because the install updates registry settings and adds a couple of files to subfolders under C:\Windows.

For implementing just SAP Crystal Reports, there’s no need for a vendor team. However, it’s very helpful to get some training on how to use the software. For the server products, like SAP Crystal Reports Server, it can be helpful to have an SAP Partner assist with configuration and training.

The tool can be incredibly powerful and flexible for generating reports. However, there is a somewhat steep learning curve to get beyond writing “basic” reports.

The ability to connect to IDAPI files. I have to use Paradox (Borland) as my database and this version of Crystal Reports is the latest one that still works with IDAPI files. I also rely heavily on the ability to run the reports in the viewer.

The reports can be viewed within our custom software product using the CR Viewer and can additionally be exported to various formats, such as Excel, for further processing. This gives the users the ability to do additional data processing in various ways without having to run a separate report for each variation.

I would like to be able to summarize formulas.

I've been using it in total for thirteen years. This version for five years, and previous ones for eight years.

This product basically works right out of the box. Except for an upgrade to SP3, we have not had any problems.

We've experienced no issues with performance.

It's been able to scale for our needs.

I haven’t used the customer service or technical support options other than searching for documentation on syntax. Searching for help on syntax has been successful. There is a lot of information on the internet for Crystal Reports.

I have used other versions in another workplace. At my current workplace, Crystal Reports 8 was previously used. This version was selected because of its ability to work with the IDAPI files.

The setup is very straightforward. We experienced no difficulty installing the product on our systems.

Our in-house technicians installed the product.

It is an excellent product. Having used other report writers, the only one that comes close is the one in MS Access but that is not a stand-alone product and can only be used with MS Access. Crystal Reports has a great deal of flexibility in how you display your company data. The designer has the ability to create formulas or conditions for almost every feature of the report including suppression and formatting.

In my experience, the strongest feature of Crystal Reports is in developing automated business intelligence reports which convert raw data into actionable business intelligence.

In 2000 when I joined a manufacturing firm, most of the accounting data was exported into spreadsheets, consequently extensive time was spent on preparing reports and making timely decisions. In 2002, I initiated utilization of the MS Access Reporting tool by importing Excel files into Access. I created reports about all accounts including customers, suppliers, employees and entities related to the business. I soon realized that MS Access reporting is a good start, but it became hard to integrate data from variety of sources, in addition to an additional step of importing data into MS Access. On further research, I found Crystal Reports to address the issue of data integration, and hence utilized Crystal Reports 8-9. I found Crystal Reports to be an excellent dedicated reporting tool, and I invested time in taking advanced training.

I would like to have horizontal paging like crosstabs.

I have been using Crystal Reports for the last 12 Years.

There were no issues with the deployment.

This is a mature product and so I have not came across any major stability issues.

It's been able to scale for our needs.

Previously, I used MS Excel, then Access before moving on to Crystal Reports.

It was fairly straightforward.

We performed an in-house implementation and this should be fine for all cases.

I found Crystal Reports to address the issue of data integration, and hence utilized Crystal Reports 2013. Crystal Reports is an excellent dedicated reporting tool, and I invested time into advanced training. I would say Crystal Reports is great tool, and has been in the business intelligence arena for a while. Hence, it's an excellent choice.

I like that Crystal Reports can easily connect to a multitude of datasource types, handling all with aplomb. It has a feature-rich toolset that allows me to shape and present the data to suit any report requirement thrown my way. Enterprise is simply the best report delivery product on the market.

I single handedly manage delivery of over 3,000 reports per month, a figure that would be unattainable without such a robust and dependable product.

I would like to see improvement in charts and metadata extraction. Reporting against the actual MDB database is cumbersome at best.

I've been using it for over 10 years.

I had minor issues with deployment, but the support was tremendous.

It’s an extremely stable platform. My reports run at around 99.94% on schedule yearly.

We've had no issues scaling it for our needs.

As I mentioned above, the support is very, very good, especially so when working directly with the service reps. The website is a little cluttered and difficult to navigate, but I’ve found a lot of help through sites such as ITCentralStation.com and other online communities.

I started out with Crystal Reports and Enterprise. I have used a few others in a limited capacity since then, but was disappointed in all.

The architecture/setup was handled by someone before me, so I can’t speak firsthand to any difficulties. However, from my conversations with that individual, there were no serious hang ups or difficulties with the initial setup.

I believe we did use a vendor team, and once again, not having first hand knowledge, I can’t really speak to this.

Buy it! I’ve seen the alternatives and they pale in comparison. There are third-party add-ins that have helped, but nothing else comes close out-of-the-box.

• You can write very complex formulas
• Field conditional formatting
• Subreports
• Specific formatting for report sections (headers, footers, etc.)
• Crosstab reports
• Coders can write their own custom SQL statement

Users have learned to write their own reports, reducing the load on our IT department.

• Easier to use crosstab interface so beginners create reports faster
• Allow for customization of crosstab row/column labels
• Installation takes more than 15 minutes on our workstations

I've been using it for seven years.

There have been no issues with the deployment.

There have been no issues with the stability.

We have had no issues scaling it for our needs.

I have never contacted tech support for help.

This product was recommended by our banking system vendor.

The setup is pretty straightforward. You can install all options to make it easier.

We installed it using our IT team. I would recommend scripting for a large deployment because it takes about 15 minutes per workstation to install.

Saberlogic Logicity provides free Crystal Viewer software. Users who only need to run reports can use this free of charge, so you can save on license costs.

• Document views or report models to make it easy for users to choose their data sources.
• Point novice users to the crosstab report. It is fairly easy to use.
• For moderate to heavy users, you should send them for training.
• Users with programming or scripting skills can create really complex reports.
• Saberlogic Logicity provides free Crystal Viewer software. Users who only need to run reports can use this free of charge, so you can save license costs.

• Version 2008 – SQL & report scheduling
• Version 2013 – XLSX workbooks

It quickly delivers consumer-focused prototypes and delivers results and code to R&D.

• It needs better graphical visualizations.
• It needs a better Crystal Viewer.

I've been using it for about 16 yers

Often at the end of a heavy Crystal Reports/Excel day, both Crystal Reports and Excel will crash with various memory issues. Crystal Reports sometimes has problems emailing and you get a MAPI error. You will get “corrupt” reports after running successfully for a couple of years, and then have to recreate. Sometimes, for no known detectable reason, 2008 will just “vanish” and I will have to restart it.

I am the only person using it, so I haven't had to scale.

For installing, upgrading and billing issues, support is great. But for “how do you do this” type of questions, Ken Hamady on LinkedIn is wonderful.

We have a product built on the Business Objects environment and also offer Crystal Reports instructions to connect to another product via JDBC. In-house analytics is primarily Microstrategy with Tableau scattered about.

I use Crystal Reports because Business Objects, MicroStrategy, and Tableau are too limiting for me. I analyze data and processes using real-time data.

The last install was a few years ago, and if I don’t remember much about the upgrade (to a new laptop), then the upgrade is pretty much straightforward.

I haven't evaluated any other solution, and I have no intention of switching.

It's the most reasonable solution available. If you are looking for a SQL-only product, then this one is not it – go look at SQL Analyzer, or Squirrel. If you want a full package of collecting, analyzing and presenting, then this is the package for you. However, you do need to have a programming angle to really understand the capabilities and power.

The most valuable features for us are its ability to provide reports on what's going on in the database and to schedule reports for end users.

It's made data more accessible to our end users in a couple of ways. First, with the ability to schedule reports, end users no longer need to run reports on demand. They're run and made available at pre-scheduled times. Second, the data is readily available to end users, as opposed to having to run queries for them.

I'd like an easier way for end users or an AD group to subscribe to reports that can be received as attachments to emails.

I've been using it for twenty years.

The configuration is cumbersome and not really clear. It would be nicer for it to be easier to configure across multiple servers.

There have been no issues with the stability.

We have had no issues scaling it.

Customer support is spotty at best, and when they do get involved it has to be according to the support person's schedule. They contact you and if you are busy, it is hard for them to understand that as a customer you would like pre-notification and the ability to set some time aside.

We have always used Crystal Reports. We have enhanced our reporting by using Tableau as well for dashboards.

The initial setup is complex. They need to have clearer instructions on how to configure servers for the best performance.

We did an in-house upgrade of two systems into one. There was no vendor support onsite.

Test your installation prior to upgrading to a production environment.

• Rapid report development, since the design interface makes coding easier.
• We can extend it to complicated reports with interactive charts and enhance the understanding of business models.
• Exposes a report object model that can interact with other controls on the ASP.NET Web form.
• It can be programmed to export the reports into widely used formats such as PDF, Word, Excel, HTML, and RTF.

We are using it for pixel perfect reporting, and that is why it is better than other reporting tools.

It needs better integration with Hadoop as well as enhancements for more analytical usage.

Also, a secured end user cannot modify data if the report is generated via Crystal Reports. It can only be done if the data is in HTML format.

We have had no issues with the deployment.

We have had no issues with its stability.

There have been no issues scaling it for our needs.

Analyze it first as to whether it is a good fit for your needs. There are other good products available for analytical needs, which Crystal Reports doesn't yet provide.

What I like about it is that it's easy to use and it provides good connectivity to various databases.

We use it for all of our operational and tabular reports.

The visualization needs work as the look is not very appealing. The UI definitely needs some updating.

Also, SAP charges an annual maintenance fee. Be careful, too, with the license model. I'd suggest that because Crystal Reports is for tabular reports, use another product for true BI.

I've used it for 10 years.

There have been no issues with the deployment.

Some reports take a while to be generated.

We've had no issues scaling it.

In my experience, the level of technical support is not good. They are, however, able to resolve issues in a timely fashion.

The initial setup was easy and straightforward.

Some reports come out-of-the-box within our applications and we built some others. So you could say that implementation was a combination of SAP's product as well as our in-house team's efforts.

Be careful with the annual maintenance fee, and get CPU based report access. Be careful with the license model. This product is for tabular reports, but for true BI reporting, use another product.

We are retiring Crystal Reports soon, and it will be replaced by IBI WebFOCUS and SQL Server Reporting Services.

The ability to set parameters, especially the cascading parameters, is the most valuable features for us.

We provide solutions to other organizations, so invariably the end reports save our clients time and, of course, money.

The example that comes to mind was where a medical client had a monthly utilization report that took 14 days to complete manually as it involved using MS Access and Excel. After the report was created in Crystal Reports, it took less than 30 seconds to run and it also highlighted data entry errors that could be fixed more efficiently, so a suite of error/exception reports had to be created also.

The linking feature between tables has always been a bit buggy, which is not good because it is really the core of ensuring that the returned data is correct. If one tries to enforce the links created as per the underlying data source, invariably it falls over and results in an error message.

The cascade parameters limit of 1000 records, which although can be increased via the registry, if you have admin rights, can result in report performance issues. Isn't there a better way of doing this?

Being able to have formulas that make up the description for value parameters, potentially on the fly, and then being able to display the parameter value and/or description selected by the user on the report, would be great also

I actually wrote a blog post of the things I wished Crystal Reports could do here: http://maximumimpactsolutions.co.uk/blog/comments.asp?bd=110. Some of the things may have ready been implemented.

I've been using it for four years.

We have had no issues with deployment.

There have been no issues with the stability.

We have had no issues scaling it.

I've never needed to use customer service/technical support.

I've been using this since v7.

It's straightforward.

Implemented it in-house, and there was nothing complex about it.

Our ROI on Crystal Reports is well over 1000%, as we offer both training and consultancy solutions to our clients.

Crystal Reports is a great little reporting tool for a myriad of data sources that provides the user a nice user-friendly GUI, which means that your report creation can be achieved quickly.

One of the most valuable features is the ability to precisely place data fields and labels on the report canvas either in Design Mode or Preview Mode. This is a great feature because when a report page requires many data fields, each item needs to be as close as possible.

Another valuable feature is the ability to select and format or align multiple data fields and labels because there are times when a group of fields needs a smaller font or to be moved together across the page.

There are two items that would improve the product. One is a simple text search across all formulas, and the other is a debug mode that would allow the developer to step line-by-line through long or complicated formulas.

I've been using it for 17 years.

We have had no issues with the deployment.

There have been no issues with the stability.

There have been no issues scaling it for our needs.

For the most part, technical support is responsive and helpful. However, the majority of technical support is in another country which can cause problems scheduling a contact time and can hamper verbal communication.

The initial setup is straightforward. However, on a couple of occasions the licensing was corrupted and required uninstalling and reinstalling the software.

Implementation was done by our in-house team.

It allows me to pull data from multiple data sources without coding SQL. Creating SQL code to copy is one of my favorite uses.

We have better efficiency overall and we've saved on doing data imports -- $36K so far. I can do them myself using Crystal Reports.

Also, it's essential to our ERP function.

I have an old version and there's no hyperlink function. Otherwise, everything I could wish for is probably already out there!

However, I had an issue where if I had the main application in one Window and a fly out menu on another monitor, it would crash. It was probably a hardware issue on my side.

I've been using it for nine years. We purchased it in 2007 and I was one of the first employees to be trained on it. I use it practically every day.

I had no issues deploying it.

I had the instability issues, described above, which led to the system crashing.

We've had no issues scaling it out.

I've never needed to use it as I am able to find the answers on Google.

I believe it was bundled with our Tyle/Eden solution.

We implemented it with out in-house team. Our configuration is pretty simple. We don't use any of the enterprise features.

It is essential for our ERP reporting to function, so the value is very high.

I can't live without it. I wish it could do a few more things, such as better hyperlink functionality. I have an older version, so I have no idea if a newer version has the features I would wish for.

It is quite a bit to take in at once. Just start with something that is meaningful to you.

Report Wizards and Sample Reports are very useful for us, and I'd say they're the most valuable features as well. I only wish there were more reports to choose from because the wizards make it easier to create a quick report.

Reporting once a month at our partners meeting with my providers, Crystal Reports ensures that I get the information directly from our SQL database so that I can combine and manipulate my reports as needed.

For me, the biggest area for improvement would definitely be the sample reports and wizards with more options and themes you can use to create more report styles.

We've used it for five years.

The software was installed prior to starting my position with this practice, so I'm not certain whether there were or were not any issues with deployment.

There are no issues with the stability.

We have had no issues with scaling it for our needs.

In my experience, technical support is good, although I haven't really had to call in for many issues.

I haven't used anything similar to Crystal Reports in the past.

It was already set up when I began my current position, so I wouldn't know whether setup was straightforward or complex.

The way it allows formatting, that is, the ability to organize the display and fields as we like, are the key elements for us. Presentation for end users is always the big concern for us, so the formatting is an important feature the we find most useful.

We're also able to drag-and-drop tables, joins, and fields, which expedites very basic data pulls. Sometimes, though, a SQL query and export to .xls suffices.

We're able to export to .pdf as well as integrate with PowerPoint. This has become a part of our instructional and sales presentations.

Some of the graphic displays are dodgy. That component is the least intuitive of all the features.

I've used it for ten years, from stale Seagate versions through SAP, Oracle, and Microsoft SQL platforms.

There have been no issues with the deployment.

There have been no issues with the stability.

We've had no issues scaling it for our needs.

Customer Service:

I've never had to contact customer service.

Technical Support:

I've never had the need to use technical support.

There were no issues encountered during the deployment. You need to delete prior versions before implementing the latest one because they seemed to clash.

We implemented it with our in-house team.

The product is expensive.

Lean on the vendor for the initial implementation and follow their steps to ensure independence down the road.

It has a lot of flexibility and can be used with a variety of data sources. A lot can be done with grouping and sub-reports.

Our organization previously exported a lot of data to Excel. This had to be endlessly manipulated by sorting, cutting, modifying pasting, de-duping, resorting, etc. Using Crystal Reports means all this manual work is eliminated. The report comes out sorted and in the right format without need for any manipulation.

Crystal also has a lot of options for grouping and creating formulas.

Some features are difficult to use for beginning users, such as shared variables.

About 10 years

With older versions of Crystal there was frequent "crashing" and reinstalling of the program. I have not seen any problems with Crystal 11.

Straightforward. Crystal has an easy installation process.

In-house set-up.

It's a great product that can be used out of the box, however it's always good to invest in training.

The ability to create reports via the GUI with click and drag at the table level as well as from SQL via Command objects.

I have used CR with a number of different db types (Oracle, SQL Server, etc.) for a number of different data types (health care, accounting, manufacturing, etc.). 

I have been using the app since version 5 in 1996. I was a certified instructor and implementation specialist on CR and BOE (and its predecessors Seagate Info) via the developers from 1997 through 2002.

What little I have seen of other products I would select CR and BOE but I am not the decision maker of the organization..

There are many suggestions but the first would be to develop a template of how you would like your reports to look. Consistent layout helps users focus on the data rather than figuring out how to view a report, e.g., this report shows drill down links blue and underlined like the Web, but the other shows them in boxes with a note at the top that you can click on boxed items for more info.

• Ease of creating custom reports
• Being able to edit in design view without having to refresh the data
• Ease of linking tables
• Ability to create union queries

We use the product to run weekly update reports to show managers how many hours have been billed to specific grants. The reports include formulas to flag if we are behind on billing out the grant or have overspent. We also run reports to see what type of legal issues clients are contacting us about and reports on time slips that managers use when creating work plans and goals.

Retain parameter lists when upgrading

Ten years.

No issues encountered.

No issues encountered.

No issues encountered.

We previously used Microsoft Access.

We implemented it in-house.

I'm not sure. We are a non-profit, so we were eligible to purchase the product from TechSoup at a significant discount.

I don't really have any advice since we didn't test any other reporting software. I like Crystal Reports. I think it's very easy to use and there are numerous forums I can look to when I need help.

The ability to plug into multiple data sources and present consistent formatted reports for our internal and external clients. We work for multiple clients around the country and this allows us to present standardized reports. Crystal Reports also allows us to pull SAP and present it as an analytical tool rather than downloading data and manipulating it in Excel.

One key improvement has been the elimination of tedious and redundant work. Where we used to do a lot of data manipulation from SAP, we can now run a Crystal Report and get the data we need in the format we desire. It has saved a lot of unnecessary man-hours.

The graphing portion of Crystal Reports is still lacking. I realize that there are other Business Objects programs out there more graphics intensive, but it would be nice if Crystal could fully service those needs as well.

Four years.

No issues encountered.

When we first started using Crystal Reports 2008, we had multiple stability issues. It seemed like at least once a day (usually more than that), it would crash on us. Save Early, Save Often became our way of life. It has improved dramatically since 2011 and Enterprise version.

No issues with scalability.

Customer Service:

Excellent. The sales reps and the technical support folks have been very supportive and have always responded promptly.

Technical Support:

Excellent. We have only had two issues that we went to technical support with but they were very thorough and worked through the issues with us.

No previous solution used.

Straightforward for me. I only had to install the Crystal Reports client and the SAP Integration kit. Everything worked as intended after that.

No other solutions were evaluated.

You should fully understand your business needs and work to integrate all of the applicable programs available as part of the Business Objects suite. It can be a complicated process with all of the available tools.

Pixel perfect static reporting.

Bought and sold many times and newer product releases do not seem to offer much improvement. Maps and gauges are pretty much worthless and you need to buy a third party add-on.

17 years

None encountered.

Early versions use to be very prone to crashing. Much better in the 2013 version

None encountered.

Customer Service:

You try not to contact SAP, just Google search for answers to your problems.

Technical Support:

You try not to contact SAP, just Google search for answers to your problems.

Back in the days (90s), Quick Reports that came with Delphi. Crystal Reports had more functionality hence the switch.

Straightforward set-up.

In-house implementation.

We use the InfoView web based interface to host the enterprise reports. The Crystal Reports is a good standard reporting product from any single data source. WEBI allows us to use multiple data sources to produce one WEBI document that can have many reports. If the Universes are designed with cross data source linking in mind, the Webi documents can be used as a great tool to relate data from multiple data sources and environments.

Our reports are no longer just a static product. Our users can actually interact with the reports. Because of this, we can generate a single enterprise wide report and the users can simply navigate to see only what is pertinent to them. Prior to this, the developers maintained a lot of “one off” reports. Basically the same report for different departments.

Business objects service packs are as notoriously bad as Microsoft new products. Full of bugs, they fix one thing but break others.

SAP Business Objects Universes and WEBI - we have been using it for 3 years. It was a progression from Crystal Reports which I have been using for 14 years.

Once you get your security strategy built correctly, things go fairly smooth.

Once installed we have had to go back to Business Objects to get patches. Part of this is our own fault for going to Unix and Tomcat servers (to save licensing costs). On a Windows Environment this seems to work better. SQL Server ODBCs on the Tomcat servers are troublesome. Once it gets set, things go pretty well.

The scalability seems good. We have a large data repository. With over 23,000 users and 3,000 report. The reports are about 50/50 between WEBI and Crystal Reports

Customer Service: Customer Service from SAP is good. Not stellar and not horrendously bad. I give them 6.5 out of 10.Technical Support: Depending on who you get. Some of their Technical support people are super great, others seem pretty novice about their product.

We have been a Crystal report shop for a long time as it is a product supported by or primary data vendor. We have also tried to go to SQL Server Reporting Service but found it too limited. We have one product now using Cognos Elite. I find it very comparable but more clunky to use.

Complex if you are not using Windows Servers. There are a huge number of options that allow you to make detrimental choices that you may not be aware of. Not much different than any other enterprise wide reporting system.

In House

Unknown

We did evaluate other options, but the fact that we were already invested in the Crystal Reports and our major vendor was supporting the Business Objects platform, we really saw the most benefit going with them.

Use Windows Servers if you can afford the licensing. If not be prepared to battle ODBCs, fonts, memory issues, and more. In the end, Cognos, Informatica, Business Objects, SQL Reporting Services require someone to know and understand the database structure. Good database structure results in good performance if the developers know what they are doing. If your databases are poor, you just amplify the problems with these kind of tools. These all simply provide an interface where someone has to define the table and data relationships. Finding the right person to do that is the key. Give them the tool that best suits the needs of the company.

Great Flexibility - the limitations in how or what the report will look & feel is really limited by the developer. Formulas can be placed on virtually any field or level. Data can be conditionally suppressed, fonts changed, splashes of color added all dependent on the data provided.Data sources options - whether you're connecting via DB2, MySQL, MS SQL, Oracle, a WebService, or any other number of connection types - there are tons of inherent connections to the tool. Configuring a connection is done easily with a wizard, and changing the connection (say during an upgrade of the source system or a server change) can be done very easily as well while retaining the report fields.Sub-Reports - many times a complex report may report on many different aspects of the data, tethering tying together lots of different data together into a nice little report. Using sub-reports allows the different reports and their SQL to be compartmentalized, while still allowing the reports fields and the variables to be shared between the main report and the sub-report(s).Formulas - Once you get the hang of the formulas in Crystal Reports, they are very powerful. Different flags and indicators can be constructed, suppression based on the formula fields, or formula fields based on other formula fields in conjunction with the source data. Creative formula construction is just one of the many tools in Crystal Reports that allows this tool to be so flexible and robust.

All the options - These same options that allow Crystal Reports to be so customizable and really achieve the report your customers desire can be a burden. If you have "inherited" an existing report, there are a number of different ways that the "Look and Feel" of the report may have been achieved - and sometimes figuring out how something was done in Crystal Reports can be like solving a Hardy Boys mystery!Syntax constructs - the syntax used in Crystal Reports (formulas) is slightly different than most other languages, using a combination of curly brackets and pipes with some traditional syntax. When constructed incorrectly, there isn't much assistance in what steps you need to take to correct your formula - only something telling you it is wrong!